Erin Whitcomb had just returned from a friend's 30th birthday celebration when she heard the news.
She'd been laid off.
Having dedicated 11 years to the PBS station in Seattle, she was devastated. In the throes of an identity crisis, Whitcomb packed her bags and moved to Orange County to be nearer to her fiance, Adam, a new graduate student at Chapman University.
Accustomed to working long hours, she suddenly found herself filling her days by cooking, reading and maintaining a sparkling clean house.
"I was going stir-crazy and there were simply no jobs to be had," she recalled. " I wanted to do something nostalgic and fun that would bring happiness into the world — sounds cheesy, but it's true."
That was when inspiration hit.
The longtime frozen treat enthusiast began experimenting with recipes and traipsing around to student film sets and wrap parties with her concoctions, so Adam's classmates could try them. When they "freak[ed] out" and lauded her efforts, she took the next step — toward one blender and a pop cart.
